End of novel notes
Motif - Ambiguity
 Before chapter 7: The Gatsby rumors, the letter Daisy
gets before her wedding day, the conversation between
Daisy and Gatsby’s first meeting
 Ch. 7: (152) – “Daisy and Tom were sitting opposite
each other at the kitchen table with a plate of cold
fried chicken between them and two bottles of ale. He
was talking intently across the table at her and in his
earnestness his hand had fallen upon and covered her
own. Once in a while she looked up at him and
nodded in agreement.”
 (145) – “ ‘Wreck!’ said Tom. ‘That’s good. Wilson’ll
have a little business at last.’ ” Is he saying this because
he means it, because of his guilt, or because he
understands the idea of having a spouse cheat on you?
 (148) – “I just got here a minute ago, from New York. I
was bringing you that coupe we’ve been talking about.
That yellow car I was driving this afternoon wasn’t
mine, do you hear? I haven’t seen it all afternoon.” Is
Tom telling Wilson this because he feels some
sympathy for Wilson or to cover for himself?
Motif – Bad drivers
 Bad driver after the Gatsby party with Owl Eyes
 The conversation between Nick and Jordan in Ch. 4
and again in Ch. 9
 Daisy’s “bad driving” that leads to Myrtle’s death
Foreshadowing
 How does Fitzgerald foreshadow the upcoming
deaths?
 (119): “Only gradually did I become aware that the
automobiles which turned expectantly into his drive
stayed for just a minute and then drove sulkily away … an
unfamiliar butler with a villainous face squinted at me
suspiciously from the open door.”
 The weather
 Furthermore, Fitzgerald foreshadows upcoming
trouble by choosing words associated with death:
 Gatsby looks as though he has “killed a man” – (141-
142): “Then I turned back to Gatsby – and was startled
at his expression. He looked – and this is said in all
contempt for the babbled slander of his garden – as if
he had ‘killed a man’. ”
 Nick says Gatsby’s dream is “dead” – (142): “But with
every word she was drawing further and further into
herself, so he gave that up and only the dead dream
fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to
touch what was no longer tangible, struggling
unhappily …”
 Daisy’s courage is “gone” – (142): “Her frightened eyes
told her whatever intentions, whatever courage she
had, were definitely gone.”
 The couple leaves like “ghosts” – (142): “They were gone,
without a word, snapped out, made accidental, isolated like
ghosts even from our pity.”
 Nick’s new age of thirty “died away” and there is a
“menacing” ahead – (143): “I was thirty. Before me
stretched the portentous menacing road of a new decade.”
& “Thirty – the promise of a decade of loneliness, a
thinning list of single men to know, a thinning briefcase of
enthusiasm, thinning hair.” & “As we passed over the dark
bridge her wan face fell lazily against my coat’s shoulder
and the formidable stroke of thirty died away with the
reassuring pressure of her hand.”
 He and Jordan “drove on toward death.” – (143): “So we
drove on toward death through the cooling twilight.”
Symbols – the green light
 Shifts in meaning throughout the novel. In Ch. 1, it signifies
going after a dream (American dream, Gatsby’s dream).
 (25-26): “… he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious
way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling.
Involuntarily I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a
single green light, minute and far away …”
 It loses some of its significance in Ch. 5.
 (98): “Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of
that light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance
that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her,
almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now
it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had
diminished by one.”
 Makes another appearance by the end of the novel.
 (189): “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by
year recedes before us. It eluded us then …”
Symbols – TJ Eckleburg’s eyes
 Also shifts in meaning. In Ch. 2, it signifies the once
prosperous but now forgotten life.
 (27-28): “The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic –
their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face but,
instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a
nonexistent nose. Evidently some wild wag of an oculist set them
there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens and then sank
down himself into eternal blindness or forgot them and moved
away.”
 By Ch. 8, it’s the watchful eye of God.
 (167): “Standing behind him Michaelis saw with a shock that
he was looking at the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg which had
just emerged pale and enormous … ‘God sees everything,’
repeated Wilson. ‘That’s an advertisement,’ ”
Themes
 Decline of the American Dream – at one point, the
American Dream was about discovery, individualism, and
the pursuit of happiness, but this was corrupted by easy
money and an overall relaxing of social values.
 The Separation of Social Classes – Fitzgerald makes
comparisons between old money, new money, and no
money. Each of these groups has a specific place in society.
 There is some difficulty in moving up the class system
 Setting reinforces this theme: East Egg, West Egg, valley
of ashes
 The Hollowness of the Upper Class – there are two
classes of rich in this novel, newly rich and old
aristocracy, but they share one particular trait … they
are spiritually and emotionally hollow.
 New money = loud, rowdy, lacking social graces
 Old money = good on the outside but empty on the
inside
 Bad Drivers – Jordan says, “You said a bad driver was
only safe until she another bad driver? Well, I met
another bad driver, didn’t I?”
 When a car with a good driver meets a car with a bad
driver, accidents can be prevented since the good driver
will compensate for the mistakes of the bad driver.

In relationships, weaknesses can be compensated for as well,
unless both partners have the same weakness.
Other concepts
 Rumors/Ambiguity – Fitzgerald uses the rumors to
reinforce the superficiality of people
 Nick’s feelings for Gatsby are somewhat contradictory
throughout the story
 The last few lines of the story
 Time – provides structure and aids in theme development
 Weather – to capture emotions and set the mood
 Color – to capture the vibrancy of the Roaring 20s; other
symbolic significance?
Character ID
 Nick, Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, Jordan, the Wilsons, the
McKees, Catherine, Eckleburg, Owl Eyes, Klipspringer,
Wolfsheim, Dan Cody, Michaelis, Ella Kaye, Henry
Gatz